Enterprising Barnsley & DMC websites

During Covid 19, the Enterprising Barnsley service had to pivot and change its delivery method. With being a trusted source of information, we had to move from people mainly contacting us via phone, to an online web chat function and self help through a daily updated Covid Landing page. Whist the support we offered worked and businesses in the borough found it very useful, it became clear that due to the age of the website and issues with the original company who built it going out of business, it is no longer fit for purpose. In addition, we have the ambition to make sure any business in Barnsley can access some form of business support. Due to the cost of integration of the current model, this needs to build on the self service model we used during Covid 19. An LMS as well as making sure it is easy for companies to find information that is relevant to them quickly and effectively is key to this. It has been decided that a full rebuild of the current Enterprising Barnsley and DMC's websites is the best approach to achieve the outcomes we are wanting. Whilst doing this, it makes sense to refresh the visual brand of the Enterprising Barnsley service to bring it in line with the work done for the branding of the DMC's & the Seam. The work also needs to integrate a grant application portal which will allow businesses a smoother easier and clearer way of applying for a range of business support grants than the current process. This will also allow BMBC staff to be more efficient in the management of these grants, ultimately increasing productivity and reducing time for the support to reach the businesses. We are wanting a single log in to the website where businesses can log in and see all different grants they have applied for as well as the any learning they have undertaken on the LMS. This single log in will allow us to add in extra functionality in the future if more funding is secured to help improve the service we deliver even further. With this in mind, we would welcome the organisations bidding for the work to propose a road map of what additional features they feel could be integrated into the websites going forwards. This project is funded by a variety of grants including ERDF, Launchpad, Digital Innovation Grant, Business Productivity Programme, BMBC & Other contributors.